title: Cancer-related traumatic stress reactions in siblings of children with cancer.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore cancer-related posttraumatic stress (PTS) reactions in siblings of children with cancer including prevalence, common symptoms, comorbidity with anxiety and depression, and gender- and age-related patterns. A total of 125 children (63 girls) between the ages of 8 and 17 (M = 12.4; SD = 2.9 years) with a brother or sister with cancer, diagnosed 4 to 38 months prior to the study (M = 1.3 years; SD = 6.7 months), completed the Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS), Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, and Child Depression Inventory-Short Form. Over half of the sample (60%) scored in the moderate to severe range for PTS and 22% fulfilled full criteria for PTSD based upon CPSS responses. Nearly 75% reported "Feeling upset when you think about or hear about the cancer," and "Trying not to think about, talk about, or have feelings about the cancer." Over 60% reported arousal symptoms. PTS symptoms reportedly interfered with functioning for 75% of the sample and co-occurred with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Gender and age-related patterns were not found. Siblings of children with cancer experience cancer-related PTS reactions and greater attention should be paid to ameliorating their cancer-related distress with empirically based treatments.
authors.affiliation: Division of Oncology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Lynne M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: K Julia
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kaal
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Alderfer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D057566:Self Report; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult